Science, Spoken

Catastrophic wildfires are spewing smoke all over the West Coast. This website lets you track the respiratory crisis in real time—with a few caveats. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Starting at a corner, could you walk around the surface of this Platonic solid without crossing other corners? To get the answer, you need an 81-holed doughnut. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hospitals in the US are already stressed. Now, they must brace for a wave of flu patients needing more beds, lab tests, and ventilators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On a “body farm,” researchers are exploring whether the nutrients from human cadavers can change the look of plants, which authorities might use to locate missing persons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

They migrated north to escape the heat but lost their genetic diversity, making them vulnerable to extinction. Today, some species face the same problem. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a recent study, scientists could tell if people were intoxicated just by looking at their phones’ motion data. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Unoccupied buildings, abandoned during the coronavirus shutdowns, give fungi a great opportunity to move in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

California’s blazes have sent a haze across the United States. An experimental model shows where that cloud ends up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The state's apocalyptic blazes have burned 2,000 square miles in 10 days. Here's how they almost claimed a 130-year-old astronomical icon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sparked by freak thunderstorms, the blazes changed wind patterns and could potentially lead to fire tornadoes and pyrocumulonimbus clouds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Musk tweeted that his “V2” update will blow our minds. But how close is he to putting computer chips in them? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Formula has come a long way, but it still lacks many nutrients and takes a toll on the environment. A few companies are hoping to provide an alternative. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Many seniors, veterans, and chronically ill people rely on the USPS for prescriptions and medical supplies. During Covid-19, they can’t just go to a drugstore. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Reducing the cobalt content in lithium-ion batteries is good for the environment, human rights, and maybe even the performance of the battery itself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As temperatures soar into the the triple digits, the Extreme Heat Resilience Alliance says such names will spark public awareness and encourage safety measures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rare thunderstorms have peppered the California landscape with conflagrations, pouring smoke into the Bay Area—all as the state struggles with the pandemic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scientists calculate that the top 200 meters of ocean alone contains up to 21 million metric tons of plastic. And that wasn't even counting microfibers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A cable cut a large gash into the radio telescope this week and it’s uncertain when it will be back in working order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Solar facilities kill tens of thousands of birds every year, and no one is quite sure why. An artificial-intelligence-powered birder is on the case. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A group of ecologists and biologists say the world's ticks, leeches, and tapeworms need love and conservation, too. Now they've got a 12-point plan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New computer simulations model an alternate way of thinking about the cosmos: as a cyclic universe that has no beginning or end. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

More than a billion tons of it could enter the environment in the next 20 years. It's time, advocates say, to put a sin tax on single-use plastic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new model of photosynthesis points to an evolutionary principle governing light-harvesting organisms that might apply throughout the universe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Regimbartia attenuata doesn’t take too kindly to being eaten. Once locked inside a frog’s maw, it turns around and starts heading for the exit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Modern scholars have only been able to speculate about where the huge stones came from—until now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices